ArchivedLogs:Tips And Limits

Tips And Limits
Dramatis Personae Dusk, Micah, Sage
In Absentia	7 February 2014 Discussions in a games shop. (Part of the Morpheus TP.)
Location <NYC> Pandemonium Games - Lower East Side
Two floors of geekery, Pandemonium Games in the Lower East Side is, at first blush, a bookstore rather than a gaming store, small and cozy with aisles dedicated to sci-fi and fantasy books. The glass counter opposite the bookshelves, admittedly, does hold a wealth of cards from various collectible card games, though binders of Magic cards predominate. Bins of dice in a wide variety of colours stand at one end of the counter. It is the lower level of the store that is usually the busy one, though. The stairs leading down to the basement head first into shelves and shelves of games; board games, RPG sourcebooks, Warhammer figurines, battle mats. Beyond the shelves of goods, a much larger room is mostly bare save its many wide tables, filled at all hours with people playing tabletop games of all kinds. It is back to cold outside, crisp and clear with no signs of chocolate rain or technicolour city. Dusk had at one point been warmly protected against it in his enormous trenchcoat but that has since been removed, enormous bright-colour-swirled wings attracting more than a few stares even when he keeps them folded in tight against his back. He /needs/ to keep them folded in tight against his back, pressed in close in the tight confines of the store as he leans up against the counter, leafing through a binder of Magic cards with elbows propped against the glass and fingers slowly turning the plastic pages. Aside from the large coat folded over an arm he's dressed bland, Vans sneakers and jeans and a plain black and grey striped sweatshirt. "There were people." He's musing this almost absently. "In the Hug Bank. What do you think happened to them? The ones who worked there. When it disappeared." Micah is still dressed warmly, though his green puffy coat with pockets stuffed with woolen accessories is draped over one arm. He still has his candy corn striped scarf hanging loose and unwound off of his neck, Wish Bear fingerless gloves on his hands, and his Batsignal hoodie zipped up over a T-shirt and jeans. His auburn hair is well-mussed from having been under a wool hat. "Well, they appeared when the bank did, yeah? I imagined they de-res'd along with it." He thumbs through the cards, as well, though with less attention to detail than Dusk, very likely. "Man, I haven't played in forever. Just kinda...stopped with the collectible stuff altogether a good while back." Sage is emerging from the basement, a few sourcebooks in her arms, dressed in a long jacket, pink t-shirt, jeans, boots, and her glasses, ATHENA. As she passes by, she of course spots the two familiar figures, but begins looking through dice. And then she speaks towards them. "Micah, Dusk. Nice to see you again. How are you?" Her voice is emotionless as always, her sourcebooks ranging from a variety of supernatural-styled games. "What brings you to Pandemonium tonight?" "But -- does that mean they're dead? Like they were people and now they're dead?" Dusk frowns uncertainly, here. "Or were they never people. Maybe they were a dream, too -- maybe just --" He shakes his head, flipping the page again. "You did good to stop it's like fucking /crack/, man. I can't kick the habit. Eats up half my damn pay -- whoa." One vivid wing shifts, edge uncurling towards Sage. Dusk's neck crack-pops as he stretches, rolls slowly to turn and face her. "Feeding an addiction. How're you?" "I think...they prob'ly weren't ever real people. Just like...programs. NPCs. I mean, did anyone ever see 'em do /anythin'/ but work there? Did any of 'em ever leave?" Micah looks up from his idle page-scanning. "That's part of why I stopped. Always had t'keep buyin' new cards t'be relevant at all. Not worth the investment when there's other things y'can play /without/ all that." Sage's greeting earns a nod in reply. "Evenin', Sage. Dusk's eyeballin' some cards. I'll prob'ly just end up with a new die since I got no specific aims. S'always hard t'tell with game shops, though." Quickly piercing their conversation together, Sage replies. "If you are speaking of the people from the Hug Bank, I must agree with Micah. I saw none of them leave, and they acted like programs, as he said." Sage then changes the subject quickly, as usual. "I have never roleplayed before, but I have learned it is entertaining, and as such, came to buy several book guides. Do either of you have any tips?" "Don't -- think any of them ever left," Dusk concedes, "but I mean, I didn't exactly keep tabs. Just swung by --" He shrugs, through his wings more than his shoulders. "They gave good hugs." He exhales sharply, kind of amused. "Aren't we all NPCs to /someone/, though. I mean, who's the protagonist of this story, really." He flicks his eyes over the books in Sage's arms. "Tips? I mean, man, that depends so much on what kinda things you're into. It's entertaining as fuck but what you want to look into depends on what you want out of it. Some people love getting crazy-heavy into mechanics, some people just want to tell a story and fuck the dice rolling. And what sort of setting you want might play into that too, though some systems bend to any setting more easily than others." "I mean, there are other PCs in existence, /too/, silly. We just have less limited dialogue trees, I guess." Micah chuckles and shakes his head, leaving the card binder still. "Tips...for /all/ of roleplaying? That's an incredibly general kinda question. Um...have fun? GM /always/ has veto power on /everythin'/. Rules lawyers are usually more annoyin' than helpful. Don't forget t'look up. An' combat isn't always the only or the best option for every situation." He shrugs, moving closer to Dusk to pet at a wing idly. "I mean, I'm sure there's more specific things t'be said about...more specific things." "Thank you. I will take these tips into consideration.” Sage says this calmly, still looking through the dice. "I would not call them NPCs. All of the Hug Bank employees were real, breathing people, but were created by a third party, and destroyed by the third party as well. Life made and gone, it is that simple." Sage glances over at them, leaning against the counter. "PC and NPC logics do not extend to real life for a variety of factors." "Why not?" Dusk's eyebrows raise. "I mean, we're talking about things that came out of dreams, I don't think real-world logic applies. For a variety of -- reasons." His wing uncurls when Micah pets at it, slipping around the other man slowly. He steps away from the counter to allow another customer to slip past so that she can peruse the card binders instead, now that he's engaged in conversation. "He's got the good tips." His thumbclaw flicks down towards Micah. "I dunno, past that. Maybe just pick a system that you can adapt to basically anything. Fate or something. Doesn't really matter what sort of campaign you want to run." "Y'sound awful certain of that. Did you actually spend enough time with these folks t'determine they had independent thought an' free will? Actual personalities, preferences...? Anythin' more than scripted set actions? S'fishy for 'em /never/ to've left the buildin' if they were full-on human people. S'a little one-dimensional. Also kinda /troublin'/ for someone t'be creatin' an' destroying full-on human people that way. I just find it extremely unlikely." Micah leans into Dusk's wing when it wraps around him, a small smile curling his lips. "Well, it also depends how /simple/ y'want somethin' t'be for a first system. It can be nice t'learn on somethin' easy first and then move into more adaptable or complicated systems. Just somethin' t'cut your teeth on." "I did not. But they were still people, no matter how immature their brains are. Heart beats, breathes, they were like me or you in terms of life. I am not disregarding the theory that they had set actions, but they were definitely human." Sage says this, firm in her beliefs. "We are positive that the dreamweaver had no malicious tendencies, yes?" And then, subject change. "I see. I know the school has a roleplaying club, I will see if they will allow me to join a game at some point." "Bet there's plenty of people around the school who'd let you get your nerd on, if you were that-a-way inclined." Dusk's fanged teeth bare in an easy quick smile, though it mellows out more thoughtful afterwards. "Not sure how you measure 'definitely human', anyway. That's a -- whole different kettle of philosophical chips." The question of the dreamweaver puts a small /twitch/ at his lips, wing squeezing tighter against Micah's shoulders. "Nah, this is the most unmalicious thing I've seen around New York in dog's years." "No, there's definitely no malice about it. Which is part of why I doubt they made people. Can get a heart beat an' breath out of an unthinkin' machine. Or a really good illusion. Don't make it a person based on that alone." Micah's eyes close briefly as he leans against Dusk's wing a little more. "M'prob'ly gonna go dig through dice a bit if you're done lookin', hon." "They created chocolate rain, technicolor skies, spontaneous costumes. I do not think their ability has a limit." Sage says this clearly again. "Very good then. This is a very good thing." When Micah says this, Sage moves away from the dice, giving a nod, and heading to the counter with the books. "I should buy these now. Thank you for speaking with me." "See y'round, then." Dusk lifts his chin in a nod of farewell to Sage. "-- wonder if they do have a limit." Just absent musing. His wing squeezes softly around Micah, then gently releases. "Ohright yeah, sure. I was gonna go pick up an expansion for Dixit. I'll just be a sec. Find something really /shiny/. I figure we can bribe Jax to play with sparkles." He leans in to kiss Micah on the top of the head, and then heads off to trot down the stairs towards the basement. "Everythin' has some kinda limit. Might just be that it's...an extreme one, is all. G'night, Sage." Micah's smile broadens with the little wing-hug. "Oh...Jax said awhile back that he'd play if we was doin' Changeling. I should get 'im...a nice set of real colourful sparkly multicolour d10's if we're plannin' t'do it." And it is broader yet with the kiss. Micah gives one last stroke to the wing before Dusk dashes off, then goes off on his scavenger hunt for /pretty/ for Jax.